Chris Wolston’s first-ever museum show bursts with surreal forms and psychedelic energy

Today, Dallas Contemporary presents ‘Profile in Ecstasy’, a solo exhibition from American artist and designer Chris Wolston. Based between New York and Medellín, Colombia, Wolston is celebrated for his vibrant and conceptual practice spanning furniture, lighting, installation and sculpture. In this showcase, design transcends function to become an immersive, sensorial experience.

The exhibition’s title, chosen by curator Glenn Adamson, refers both to the drug and its etymological meaning, ‘to be outside oneself’. This provides a provocative lens through which to view Wolston’s work, which extends beyond the physical into realms of imagination and expression. The exhibition presents bold, hallucinatory objects that merge Art Nouveau, pre-Columbian symbolism and architectural exuberance.

Unfolding across four catwalks – evoking the theatricality of a fashion show or drag ball – ‘Profile in Ecstasy’ showcases creations ranging from bronze furniture with iridescent patinas to woven rattan sculptures echoing the human body (the body is a major theme in Wolston’s work, as is the natural landscape of Colombia).

Elsewhere: monumental terracotta sculptures carved from solid clay; lightweight aluminum forms cast from foam and anodized in shimmering hues; furniture animated by torch-worked surfaces; and handwoven carpets from Beni, an atelier in Marrakech, featuring warped calla lily motifs. It’s all accompanied by pulsating video works created by Wolston’s husband, filmmaker David Sierra. At the heart of the exhibition stands a luminous fountain depicting pop icon Grace Jones.

Wolston’s postmodern aesthetic results from his fusion of traditional and non-Western craft techniques with contemporary sensibilities – a dialogue he first began at the Kokrobitey Institute in Accra, Ghana, and developed further at the Rhode Island School of Design. A defining moment came in 2010, when Wolston completed a Fulbright fellowship studying pre-Columbian ceramics in Colombia. This experience led him to establish a second studio in Medellín, where he now collaborates with local artisans alongside Sierra.

An institution dedicated to presenting the most compelling art of our time, Dallas Contemporary is an ideal platform for Wolston’s boundary-pushing practice. ‘Profile in Ecstasy’ reflects the museum’s mission to engage audiences with experimental, interdisciplinary art that challenges conventional categories.

‘Profile in Ecstasy’ is on view from 7 November to 1 February 2026 at Dallas Contemporary.